f you are one of the lucky ones who have prepared a vacation trip, we congratulate you, but have you already thought about what you are going to do with your plants? Being away from home for several days or even weeks can be a disaster for our plants since, depending on their species, being so long without watering or care can be fatal, especially in the hot summer months and in the coldest months. of winter.
In this article, we are going to teach you how to water your plants on vacation so that you save yourself from having to ask someone to take care of them for you.
How to water plants on vacation – 3 effective methods
There are several ways to water your plants without having to be present. Some of them are self-watering pots, drip cones or gelled water, although we are going to focus on home irrigation systems to water the plants
on holidays that can be used easily. We will focus on these three, as they are the most practical.- Irrigation by cordon
- Home drip irrigation
- Inverted bottle irrigation
How to water plants on vacation with a cord
Watering plants with wool or cord is one of the best known and most used tricks for this type of situation and, in addition, it is very easy to prepare. You just need to follow these steps:
- Place a container full of water near the plants you are going to water. It is important that the container is above the pots, so you can place it on a support that keeps it high.
- Take shoelaces or long pieces of string or wool and place the end of each one of them sunk in the water, making sure that they reach the bottom of the container, and the other sides buried in the substrate of the pots to be watered, near the roots.
- The cord will absorb the humidity, which will be absorbed by the earth at the rate that each plant needs.
- Another option is to use a rubber tube or hose, as seen in the main image in this article.
Home drip irrigation
Another watering option for plants on vacation is the well-known drip irrigation . Follow these instructions and you will see that it is very easy to achieve it:
- Take a large plastic bottle or container and poke very small holes in one side. These should be holes the size of the head of a fine needle, so you can use one to poke them.
- Now you just have to bury the bottle next to the plant you want to water, with the holes facing it. Leave it full of water and it will soak the earth drop by drop through the holes made.
- If the plant to be watered does not require large amounts of water, you can also limit yourself to placing the perforated container on the ground without burying it, but keep in mind that in this case the drops will simply slide down to the surface soil, and you will need to drill the holes in base.
Inverted bottle for watering plants
If your plants need a lot of water or resist humidity well and you will not be out for many days, another method is the inverted bottle system for irrigation :
- Choose a bottle with a narrow neck.
- Fill it with water.
- Bury it upside down in the pot to be watered, trying to bury enough part so that it remains well nailed.
Keep in mind that using this system implies that the land receives a greater amount of water, so the irrigation will run out sooner and the land will get quite moistened. For this reason, it is not advisable to use the inverted bottle system with plants that are vulnerable to fungal attack due to excess humidity.
Plant care on vacation – tips
There are other measures you can take into account to ensure that your plants are as good as possible when you return. Follow these tips to care for plants on vacation :
- One of the most important is to try to gather all the plants in the same room, in an area where you can protect the plants from excessive heat and cold. For this, a dry room is recommended, with the blind half raised so that some light enters, but there is no direct impact. Make sure that there are also no strong air currents, which are very harmful to some species.
- Of course, it is also highly recommended to leave your plants in the most optimal state possible as you go, so remove any traces of dried leaves or stems. You can even carry out a small sanitation pruning , which will help reduce the water consumption of your plants.
- In addition, a preventive insecticide treatment could save you scares when you return. If any of your plants tend to be attacked by a specific pest, take action before it happens, or when you return it could be too late. Most pests can be controlled with organic and ecological remedies, so you may not need to resort to chemicals.
